The present invention relates generally to a system for managing the recording, collection and selective presentation of video data, and more particularly, to a video management system to manage a collection of cooperating video cameras for monitoring and recording an event or area of interest.
Good surveillance systems are helpful to provide security and protection of people and property. For example, businesses and homeowners regularly install security cameras around their businesses, homes, and other property to provide video surveillance so that in the event of a burglary, theft, invasion, damage to property, or other criminal activity the captured video data can be used to identify the perpetrators and help piece together what happened. Sometimes the captured video data is useful and may help the police successfully identify and eventually apprehend those involved in the criminal activity.
With the availability of low-cost digital video cameras, residential security camera systems have become popular, typically with local or cloud-based video recording and storage services. However, to-date, typical home security camera systems record at relatively low resolution, making it difficult to discern relevant details of any event that may have been captured. Also, although many current home security cameras provide a source of illumination for nighttime use, such illumination, which is usually in the form of infrared LEDs, is rarely effective beyond 20 feet. In addition, most criminal events take place at night, and more importantly, most criminals are either aware of the field of view of security cameras that may be prominently located around the home and criminals make efforts to avoid being recorded by them and also often wear clothing that obscures facial features and other identifying details so that even if a security camera did happen to record a criminal in action, the recorded footage would not reveal useful information, other than perhaps a general description of the criminal miscreant (e.g., height, build, etc.).
Another environment where security cameras are often employed is parking lots and garages. For example, in commercial parking garages, where drivers pay to park their cars for a period of time, security cameras are usually employed to provide surveillance. However, typically the cameras only cover the main entrances and exits of the building and possibly some general views of each floor. A criminal may easily bypass the field of view of the minimal camera coverage and break into cars that are not being surveilled or are outside or far in the field of view of the cameras. For example, when the owner of a vehicle arrives at a restaurant that provides valet parking services, he or she relinquishes his or her vehicle to the valet attendant, essentially a stranger, and receives a small paper receipt in return. The attendant drives off to park the vehicle at some unknown location, typically a garage, while the owner tries to stay focused on the upcoming fine food experience. Needless to say, all vehicle owners experience a level of stress and concern regarding any valet service because of the unknown. If they receive their vehicle damaged or with items missing from within, or even with evidence that their car was driven outside the garage, it's a hassle to file a claim and difficult to prove fault.
Similarly, when people park in open free parking lots of the type typically provided adjacent shopping centers or businesses, even though there are usually security cameras positioned throughout the area, the footage of these cameras are not available to the owners of the cars parked in the lot.
One potential solution to these parking-related issues is the use of video cameras in vehicles. So-called “dash-cams” or “car-cams” are typically mounted to the windshield or dashboard of a vehicle and are used to record forward-facing video of the path of travel as the vehicle moves. Various features are becoming more popular in current dash-cam models, such as including a cabin-view camera, and motion activation, which could be used to capture video of break-in or theft events inside the vehicle. For example, when a driver of a dash-cam enabled vehicle enters a parking lot, the dash-cam (if continually powered) may continue to record its field of view, even when the car is parked. This recorded viewing angle may prove useful if an event were to happen to the owner's vehicle inside the camera's field of view. Unfortunately, the vehicle owner would have no recorded information regarding an event occurring outside the camera's field of view because the event would have occurred in the blind-spot of the camera. To help provide a greater field of view, some dash-cam designs employ a 360 degree lens. Although this type of lens does increase the field of view, the view is inherently filled with obstructions, such as most of the vehicle, often include optical artifacts, and may require software to resolve. Similarly, if an automobile is subject to a forced entry incident (a break in), a car-camera in that car may quickly be stolen, knocked down, or otherwise made inoperative. Also, in the case of an automobile accident, the car-camera itself may become severely damaged or knocked off its mount and be unable to record or “see” the events which take place during and after the impact. This is unfortunate since important visual evidence occurring after the accident may be lost.
In-vehicle camera systems also provide additional features. For example, when travelling on a road, drivers always benefit by knowing what lies ahead of them. Some vehicle systems provide cameras and other sensors to scan the area immediately in front of the vehicle to provide information to the driver and, sometimes, to assist with safety controls, such as to avoid a collision, to stay within the road, or more recently, to provider auto-pilot and self-driving features. However, these systems are limited to the field of view or sense immediately in front of the vehicle. Drivers may resort to other connected systems, such as on-board guidance systems or smartphone applications, to receive additional information about what lies ahead, such as traffic congestion or accidents, road obstructions, or the like, but these apps typically rely on other drivers to actively participate, as they drive to provide the information to be distributed to others using the application. The information often requires the participant to manually input data or manipulate their smartphone. Of course, manually inputting such information is distracting and dangerous to both the driver of one car and the neighboring vehicles and pedestrians. There are no known applications or devices that provide user-selectable real-time visual information of what lies ahead, beyond the line of sight of the driver.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system to expand the coverage of an event or area from monitoring video cameras in the area and increase the likelihood that useful video evidence, e.g. of a fleeing suspect, will be obtained and overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.